Remember July 1: Make your NKY impact last through 'Endow Kentucky' opportunity

There are few priorities that rate higher for Holly Mazzocca than her commitment to helping area children through involvement with the DCCH Center for Children & Families in Fort Mitchell.

The Villa Hills native is a promising young leader in NKY. This is her home and she’s willing to invest in its future. She’s going to take the opportunity to do just that on July 1.

That’s the date that $1 million in tax credits become available through the Endow Kentucky Tax Credit program. One of just a few states that offers such a program; Kentucky’s plan is a high-value opportunity to build long-term support for charitable efforts you care deeply about.

The tax credits are claimed quickly, so acting on them during the first week in July is essential. From one perspective, you can view it as NKY being in competition as a leading region for these benefits with Louisville and Lexington.

Mazzocca, who is a Wealth Advisor and Principal at Bartlett Wealth Management, plans on supporting the DCCH Center again on July 1. (DCCH is short for Diocesan Catholic Children’s Home, the original name of the organization.)

“I donated last year to an endowment for the DCCH Center that is held with the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and I have also helped clients make contributions to various endowments through this program as well,” she says.

Several factors set this opportunity apart from regular tax-deductible charitable donations.

There are immediate benefits to the individual from the tax credit itself which maximizes the impact of their gift. Additionally, the gift itself goes into an endowment fund for the recipient, meaning you are helping to build a reservoir of funding that meets long-term needs. The nonprofit you designate for your gift benefits through an annual distribution, allowing your gift to continue to have an impact in perpetuity.

As an example of the financial power of utilizing the Endow Kentucky program, examples provided by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation show that a $10,000 cash donation actually can have a net cost to the donor of just $3,800, once deductions and tax credits are applied. Up the amount of the gift to $50,000 and the net cost to the donor is just $19,000. If the gift is in the form of stock instead of cash, additional tax considerations come into play, potentially lowering the individual’s net cost on a $50,000 donation to just $11,800.Laura Menge

“The appeal really is that Kentucky has this really great deal, and you can’t get it in Ohio and you can’t get it in most states,” says Laura Menge, a philanthropic advisor for the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. “It’s meant to inspire charitable giving that will be permanently supportive of Kentuckians.”

To participate in the program, the donation must be made through a qualified community foundation.

“What I encourage my clients to think about is that there are a number of organizations who already have funds set up through the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and that starting this year, Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky is also now qualified to accept contributions,” says Mazzocca. “This is not meant to replace any regular giving you may be doing because of the tax credit instead of the tax deduction piece of it. It’s really an additional benefit you would want to consider. The benefit of an endowment gift is that it is meant to last into perpetuity. But because the recipient doesn’t have complete access to the funds today, don’t give your entire annual gift through this structure.”

The program has been offered by the state since 2010. In that time, 24 endowments have been set up through the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to support NKY nonprofits and $4.3 million in gifts have been brought in. Among the recipients are:

Alliance for Catholic Urban Education

Brighton Center

Children, Inc.

Children’s Home of NKY

Covington Partners

Diocesan Catholic Children’s Home (DCCH)

The Life Learning Center

St. Elizabeth Healthcare

St. Elizabeth Hospice

United Way, Northern Kentucky

Mazzocca both volunteers at the DCCH Center and is on the organization’s board. She’s been back in NKY since 2015, after spending seven years working in Chicago. In May, she was honored with the “Emerging Leader” award by the organization Outstanding Women of Northern Kentucky. She is exactly the kind of young professional that nonprofits are looking to in extending their reach further into the community.Holly Mazzocca

Her practice at Barlett Wealth Management includes specialties in next-gen/millennial investing and non-profit investing, so she can look at an opportunity like Endow Kentucky from a lot of angles.

She says many families are no longer itemizing on their federal taxes, because of changes to the tax laws, so giving through Endow Kentucky offers an alternate path to at least realize some savings on your state tax bill through the tax credit that is offered. And then there are intrinsic reasons such an option would particularly appeal to younger donors.

“This is an additional tool to support our community,” Mazzocca says. “My generation, and I’m in my mid-thirties, we love to see where our money is going and we love to be included with volunteer touches. But we’re also going to be part of this community for the next 60 or 70 years, and by investing your money, even if it is a small amount, you know it will be intentionally invested to grow over time.

“I see this as a way to say, ‘Yes, I can give of my time by volunteering directly, I can give of my talents by doing something like sitting on a board, but I can also give of my treasure as well, both today by giving a gift directly to an organization and into the future, by giving a gift through Endow Kentucky.'“